I've used various incarnations of Premiere, Avid and Final Cut over the years, and have found grumbles across each package, all are good, but none are perfect, each with their own quirks, and each with their own areas of excellence.

I was running Premiere v.6.02 on a high spec Xp platform, and found it to be very similar in logic to a linear tape based edit suite, which I found to be a boon. I hated the lack of disc based output and like every other person who has ever used it, found the titling a sham.

I did however love the amount of visual effects, and the level of control offered. I found render times a wee bitty slow, even at preview quality, and found it a pain when trying to monitor the capture, or playback, with the on screen monitor at the same time.

I downloaded a tryout version of Premiere Elements from the Adobe site before purchase, (free, no captioning or disc burning, otherwise fully functioning for 40 days).

The interface is very similar to version 6/6.5 (though a bit different from Pro, & 1.5), there is no twin monitor window option (i.e. where both the clip and the timeline can be seen similtaneously) although the monitor window allows you to toggle between the two.

As with Premiere 6, I found a single monitor very cramped, I've always used a twin VDU set up, and this helps you run Elements to its full potential.

You have a capture window, timeline, single monitor window, audio monitor window, clip bin window etc.

The interface itself if logically laid out and much more user friendly than previous or even the pro version.

There is an easy icon for each stage of the process, from capture, add media, edit, titles, export & dvd.

For the more experienced user there are up to 99 audio and 99 video tracks, there are enough of the video effects to keep all but the highest end professional happy (I couldn't find a filter for broadcast safe levels or colours, they may be there, but then it's not aimed at the broadcast market).

There is no audio or video track locks, and the captured audio and video clips are linked by default.

These can be unlinked in order to perform L or J Cuts, and audio can be seperated from picture (in the traditional 'insert' style).

Another quirk is that when clips are taken out, the timeline performs an automatic ripple delete (you can work round this by pressing 'alt' as you perform the edit).

The trick is not to remove the video or audio clip, but to reduce the level (bring the audio down to -infinity) and reduce the video opacity to 0%.

Razor cuts can be performed as before, as can scrubbing & stretching. There is no easy way to perform manual audio fades without involving keyframes. There is an auto level fix for the basic home user.

Captioning is now on a par with pinnacle for ease of use, allied with a sensible level of control, even for motion effects.

I've yet to burn a disc using premiere elements but I'll update this review as soon as I have.

One real boon is the opportunity to output your dvd as either NTSC or PAL, regardless of how what format it was captured in, great for family or clients abroad.

Recommended: Yes